Tiny Box Will Feed Internet Video (Even Flash) to Your TV

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Maybe hooking up a computer to your TV is overkill. That's the philosophy of this "Litl" box, consisting of a small set-top box with HDMI output and a touchpad remote that slides open to reveal a small keyboard.

Yeah, we've seen boxes like this, and similar remotes — but the secret sauce here is the operating system inside. Its makers say it will "finally give you a good Web browsing, computer experience on the TV." And, it'll run Flash, letting you watch video from websites such as Hulu (theoretically) right out of the box with no additional apps required. Sounds good. Even better is the company's open philosophy with its operating system, inviting developers to create apps for it.

But who says you don't get a good Web browsing experience with a full-blown computer in the home theater? With a decent wireless mouse and a compact keyboard, a powerful computer hooked up to a fast broadband connection works beautifully in almost any living room.

So far, all we see are pretty Litl pictures and good ideas. Let's hope this Litl box turns into something we can actually plug into our TVs. The Litl people told us in a phone conversation we'd see this box shipping "by January 2011 if not sooner," at a price that'll be "definitely less than $500."